Units formed by citizens of Russia are supporting Ukrainian forces by carrying out attacks across the border. Who are these groups of fighters and what ideology do they adopt?
(DW) “Our task is to inform the citizens of the Russian Federation that they are being ruled by an illegitimate president,” says the commander of the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, Denis Nikitin, in a video allegedly recorded in a Russian-made armored car. On Tuesday (12/03), fighters from these units reported that they had crossed the border into the Belgorod and Kursk regions of Russia. They fired on Russian soldiers and captured enemy military equipment.
This means that not only Ukrainians, but also Russians are fighting Russia alongside Kiev. They call themselves the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, the “Siberian Battalion” or the “Freedom of Russia” legion. The Russian secret service FSB denied these reports and instead reported the deaths of more than 100 saboteurs who allegedly tried to enter Russian territory.
All-Russian units
The “Freedom of Russia” legion has been known since the beginning of April 2022 at the latest. It was supposedly formed by captured Russian soldiers who went over to the Ukrainian side – and also by volunteers with Russian passports.
They number around 500 men, according to Ilya Ponomaryov, a former member of the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) who now lives in exile and represents the unit. In 2014, he was the only one to vote against the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
The other unit, the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, was formed in August last year. Its contingent is kept secret. However, a fighter codenamed “Cardinal”, whose military ID was provided to DW, says that it performs the functions of a company.
A company consists of between 30 and 150 men. The co-founder of the unit, businessman Denis Kapustin, using the pseudonym Denis Nikitin, who is known to the Russian radical right, reported at the end of last year that the “Russian Volunteer Corps” has been deployed in the Ukrainian Army since the fall of 2022.
Recently, another unit, called the “Siberian Battalion”, has been fighting for Ukraine. According to Ukrainian media, most of the fighters come from Siberia and the far east of Russia. The existence of such a battalion was confirmed by former Russian Army officer Vladislav Amosov.
“Genuine nation-state”
On social media, the “Russian Volunteer Corps” claims that all members hold right-wing conservative views. For example, the fighter “Cardinal” sees the future Russia as a “genuine nation-state of Russians on the original Russian territories – taking into account the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Belarus, as well as neighboring countries”. He emphasizes: “We want to establish a state for Russians that wants to live in peace with all neighboring nations.”
The members of the “Freedom of Russia” legion, on the other hand, do not express their political opinions publicly. Ilya Ponomaryov points out that there is no dominant ideology in the unit. “It is the prototype of the future Army of the Russian Federation,” he says, adding that its advantage is that it is neither left nor right, neither liberal nor conservative. “The idea of resisting Russia’s aggression unites its members,” says Ponomaryov.
Dissolution or preservation of the federation?
The “Russian Volunteer Corps” belongs to the “Civil Council”, a new association of Russian emigrants founded in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Anastasia Sergeyeva, who is responsible for international issues in this association, until recently headed the Polish foundation “For a Free Russia”.
She says that the “Civil Council” also includes activists from the republics of the Russian Federation and that they are in favor of their peoples’ right to self-determination. The “Civil Council” has published video messages on YouTube for Chechens and Circassians, calling on them to fight for Ukraine and the independence of their republics. Sergeyeva is seeking private donations to finance the work of the “Civil Council” and the training of new fighters.
The representative of the “Freedom of Russia” legion, Ilya Ponomaryov, told DW at the end of 2022 that he had talked to representatives of various countries and the media about cooperation. In contrast to the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, which would allow regions to secede from the Russian Federation, the Legion states that its aim is to “preserve a united and indivisible Russia within the borders of 1991”. However, the regions must be given far-reaching powers and their ethnic identity must be preserved. The Legion also collects money for its work – in cryptocurrency.
Recruiting fighters
Before the “Russian Volunteer Corps” began its cooperation with the “Civil Council”, it only accepted Russians who were already abroad. Many of them said that they had been on the Ukrainian side since 2014, having taken part in the fighting in Donbass as members of the Azov Volunteer Battalion.
Today, the “Civil Council” is a kind of recruitment center. According to Anastasia Sergeyeva, it now also accepts men directly from Russia. On the council’s website, potential volunteers can fill in a questionnaire on a Google form or write to an encrypted ProtonMail inbox. “Further communication takes place via secure systems that we suggest,” Sergeyeva explains, without going into details.
As Oleksiy Arestovych, who used to be an advisor to the Ukrainian presidential cabinet, emphasizes, initially only Russian prisoners of war who had a change of heart were recruited into the “Freedom of Russia” legion. However, according to him, the legion is now also accepting men who are still in Russia.
Again, applicants must first send their CV and copies of a series of documents, including ID, to a ProtonMail mailbox. As reported by the Legion, the admission procedure includes a lie detector test, as well as psychological and other aptitude tests.
For a long time, the “Russian Volunteer Corps” and the “Freedom of Russia” legion criticized each other. However, their latest operation shows that these units can also fight together against a common enemy.
*** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***